And game times are down around 22 minutes. So far, around the league the new rules have produced the intended results - the overall batting average is up. The bases are slightly bigger this year, but that’s a change you won’t notice, and MLB has also limited pick-off attempts with runners on base, which will marginally speed up play as well. All of this serves the game better than letting computers turn it into an algorithmic eyesore. More hard-hit grounders will become hits, which means more base runners and more action. The game’s beautifully symmetric field and corresponding defense had turned into a computer-driven, lopsided mess.įorcing teams to keep two infield players on either side of second base with everyone on the dirt when a pitch is thrown should increase the league’s overall batting average, which fell to. The other new rule that’s significant is a ban on “the shift.” In recent years, Major League teams have been overloading one side of the diamond with several fielders, playing the odds that a particular batter would pull the ball. Put one in our minivan to get my kids out of the car in a timely fashion. Put one in airplanes to get dillydallying passengers into their seats. Put one over the creamer station at the coffee shop. I like the play clock so much I’ve started daydreaming about other parts of my life that could use it. Was there even a game going on somewhere?īut kids can handle something short of three hours, and you don’t feel like you spent $300 on tickets to see half a game. Ever take four little kids to a baseball game? Three hours-plus seemed like a trip to Mars and back as we shuttled between the concession stands, merry-go-rounds and playground equipment. The clock created a rhythm that was easy to feel as the game went on. On most pitches, you get a sense of whether the pitcher will make it within the first couple of seconds of his receiving the ball. This will ultimately function like the play clock in football, which is rarely violated but potentially consequential when it is. I saw a handful of infractions, but not many. I kept my eyes on the clock frequently, although it became less important to me as the week wore on. Although I bet there are more than a few stadium operations directors out there calculating how many fewer $7 hot dogs they’ll sell this season. They just played ball, and at a pace that reminded you of the baseball of your youth. No more pacing about in the latter innings by relief pitchers who heretofore treated each pitch like a State of the Union address, whether the game was 1-1 or 12-0. No more stepping in and out of the box to adjust gloves and body armor. And this was spring training, where lineup and pitching changes are far more plentiful than in regular season tilts. The shortest was 2 hours and 25 minutes, and the longest was 2 hours and 59 minutes. I watched six games, all under three hours. The national pastime was just about the only major sport that existed with no clock ( even the PGA punishes golfers for slow play these days) because baseball wasn’t meant to be rushed but, rather, to be savored.īut after immersing myself in the new world order for a week, I must admit: I love it. To a baseball purist like me, the idea was anathema at first. Major League Baseball has been contemplating a pitch clock for years, as game times pushed to three hours and beyond. In either case, a trip to the plate can be fundamentally altered if you violate the rules. Likewise, if a batter fails to square up in the batter’s box before 8 seconds remain on the pitch clock, he is assessed a strike.
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